policy
Car Dealers Still Waiting on Ottawa for Old EV Rebate Reimbursements
Some Canadian dealerships are still out tens of thousands of dollars from the original iZEV program, even as the revived $5,000 federal rebate launches. Transport Canada says all eligible claims were paid, but dealers tell a different story.
The revived federal EV rebate program launched on February 16, 2026, restoring up to $5,000 for battery-electric vehicles under $50,000 and $2,500 for plug-in hybrids. But as the new program gets underway, some Canadian dealerships are still out tens of thousands of dollars from the original iZEV program that ended in 2025 — and they say Transport Canada has not made them whole.
Dean Woods, sales manager at a Kia dealership in Grimsby, Ontario, told The Canadian Press his dealership is out $20,000 after Transport Canada refused to reimburse rebates applied to EVs sold in 2024. The office manager did not notice the claims were unpaid until a month ago. When Woods wrote to Transport Canada asking for reimbursement, the department refused because the program had ended.
The submission-form problem
The core issue is administrative. Under both the old and new iZEV programs, dealerships apply the rebate at point of sale and then submit a claim to Transport Canada for reimbursement. In Woods's case, an error in the submission form prevented claim-number confirmations from being generated — meaning the claims were never received by the program. Transport Canada's letter to Woods acknowledged the error but noted that because the program was closed, resubmission or reimbursement was no longer possible.
The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association says the problem is broader. Huw Williams, a CADA spokesperson, said some dealers have brought cases forward and been rejected, while others are unsure whether they will even submit claims. "Dealers are small, independent businesses, and when there's been historic problems, Transport Canada has not always shown flexibility to solve the problem," Williams said.
The numbers behind the reimbursement gap
- $5,000 maximum rebate for battery-electric vehicles under $50,000.
- $2,500 maximum rebate for plug-in hybrids.
- $20,000 outstanding reimbursement claimed by one Grimsby, Ont., Kia dealership.
- $2.3 billion set aside for the revived iZEV program over its lifetime.
- April 2026 when the dealer reimbursement portal for the new program is scheduled to open.
What dealers want
Williams says Transport Canada should use the relaunch as a clean slate and reimburse dealers who fronted money under the old program before asking them to participate in the new one. "Let's start it in good faith. Get people, dealers — who had fronted money to consumers — paid, and let's charge forward together to get EVs across the country."
Transport Canada says it temporarily reopened the rebate program for a month last summer to allow dealerships to submit claims that had not yet been paid, and that all eligible claims submitted before the pause or during that window have been paid. The department did not respond to a followup about cases where submission-form errors prevented claims from being recorded. For now, the reimbursement question remains an open wound between Ottawa and the dealer network it depends on to deliver EV incentives to consumers.
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